Earlier this season, Kassidy Fitzpatrick, sophomore midfielder, works her way around Elise Reid, senior Cyclone midfielder Sept. 28. The Buffs head to Texas Sunday. (CU Independent file/Michelle Davenport)
After 11 days without any competitive games, the Colorado Buffaloes women’s soccer team is returning to the playing field. But there is a catch.
That field is in Texas.
Colorado (8-7, 5-2 Big 12 Conference) charges south to the Lone Star State for the final two road games of the regular season. They will face No. 20 Texas A&M (10-5-1, 4-2-1) at 6 p.m. Friday and Texas (7-7-2, 3-2-2) at noon Sunday.
For freshman midfielder Quinn Krier, the break was an opportunity a majority of players may take for granted.
“The break was great,” Krier said. “We had a chance to be normal college students for once. It just gave us a time to sit back and breath, give us just a time for ourselves and regroup.”
Senior forward Kelly Menachof agrees with Krier.
“The break came at a very good time actually,” Menachof said. “[The team] had a lot of injuries, a lot of nicks and bruises, so it was a good time for us to rest and get our minds up and ready to go.”
Head coach Bill Hempen said the Buffs were “nursing some injuries,” and although the break helped the situation, they were not able to field enough players for an 11-on-11 scrimmage at last Sunday’s practice.
The Aggies head into the contest one spot below Colorado – which is in second place and trailing Missouri in the Big 12 – and are the only Big 12 team currently ranked in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Top 25 women’s soccer poll.
With three games left for most of the 11 schools in the conference, Hempen said it’s possible for any team to snag a Big 12 Tournament seed. Although Colorado’s current position would net them a playoff seed, Hempen remains cautious.
“Everybody wants to defend their home turf,” Hempen said. “Although it looks chaotic, it’s about what I expect, getting down to the last weekend where anything can happen. We can finish first, seventh and any point in between, and that’s pretty much everyone. Everybody still has a shot to make the Big 12 Tournament, even Oklahoma, who’s at the bottom of the table. There are going to be a lot of desperate teams playing very, very hard.”
Both Texas squads are returning home after road losses against Big 12 rivals. If Hempen’s comment about home turf holds true, neither squad will be easy to overcome.
Krier said returning from a loss will have an effect on the Texas teams.
“I think they are both going to be pretty pissed off and want to win,” Krier said. “So we need to come off this bye and be ready to take that, and be ready for them to want to win because we need to want to win more.”
Krier mentioned the game against Missouri, a game which the Buffs lost, as proof of the phenomenon.
“That didn’t go very well,” she said.
Menachof said the previous results may not have as much of an impact.
“It certainly could,” Menachof said. “It could fire them up but I don’t feel like they are going to need anything else to get them going.”
The pair of games marks the end of the Buffs five-game road trip, which Hempen said at the moment has been challenging.
“You talk about it all the time with your [players],” Hempen said. “The road is a different animal than home and it’s certainly played out that way.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Esteban L. Hernandez at Esteban.hernandez@colorado.edu.
1 comment
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